Scottie Scheffler on top at PGA Championship after chaotic day at Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bryson DeChambeau walked off the 15th green like Mick Jagger needing something to do with his hands during the “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” guitar solo. He opened his arms wide, raised both index fingers and gave a few pumps, each bringing more applause.

“I was pumped,” he said afterward.

The two-time major champion had just vaulted himself to what was a brief stint as the PGA Championship’s solo leader. As he walked to the 16th, CBS broadcast commentator Ian Baker-Finch said what so many were thinking.

“This feels a lot like Pinehurst,” he said, referring to DeChambeau’s victory during last year’s U.S. Open.

By the end of the day, Quail Hollow felt nothing like Pinehurst. Because Scottie Scheffler was at the top of the leaderboard, looking untouchable.

Scheffler shot a 65 on Saturday, getting to 11 under for the tournament. Behind him are Alex Norén (8 under), Davis Riley (7 under), J.T. Poston (7 under), Jon Rahm (6 under), Si Woo Kim (6 under), Jhonattan Vegas (6 under) and five others — including DeChambeau — at 5 under.

Saturday felt like the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby — 20 horses bunched together needing a little luck. Most of the day featured a dozen guys within two shots of the lead. It finished with no one two shots off the lead.

DeChambeau’s Jagger impersonation was around 5:15 p.m. About 15 minutes later, the Pinehurst talk was out the window. DeChambeau was kicked in the teeth by the Green Mile, bogeying No. 16 and dunking his tee shot on 17 before carding double bogey. Soon after DeChambeau’s implosion, there was a 21-minute span of chaos.

2:52 p.m. — Norén birdies No. 18 and takes the outright lead at the PGA Championship (8 under).

2:57 p.m. — After hitting his drive on the 304-yard 14th hole to 3 feet, Scheffler makes eagle and ties Norén at 8 under.

3:13 p.m. — Vegas, a two-shot leader to start the day, birdies No. 14, creating a three-way tie for first.

“There’s a lot of leaderboards,” Scheffler said of Quail Hollow. “So I think you see where guys are at times, but it doesn’t have an effect on how I’m going to play or approach shots.”

At that point, you could have talked yourself into Norén being the favorite heading into Sunday because, well, he was in the clubhouse. No more firm greens to deal with. No more win to navigate. No Green Mile left to conquer.

But that didn’t account for Scheffler, who turned the vaunted Green Mile into the Green Mile Pitch-n-Putt.

He parred No. 16 with ease. He sunk an 18-foot birdie putt on the next hole. And he finished the round by hitting his approach shot — out of a divot — to 9 feet and drilling another birdie putt.

He played the Green Mile in 2 under and was 5 under in the final five holes.

At 4:11, Scheffler’s final putt went in and the 28-year old who rarely shows emotion — the anti-DeChambeau, in that sense — got juiced. Two quick, short fist pumps. A scream at the hole. Then he caught himself. He walked back to his caddie, Ted Scott, with his head down, swinging his putter, no smile. The crowd circled around the 18th let out cheers of “Scottie! Scottie! Scottie!”

“To just take advantage of the opportunity, I think that’s — wherever the emotion came from,” he said.

And on Sunday, he’ll have a chance to win his first major outside of the Masters, which he won in 2022 and 2024 — at one of the closest major destinations to Augusta National. After Saturday, though, perhaps it’s naive to expect a runaway victory.

“There’s a lot of great players chasing me on the leaderboard,” Scheffler said, “and someone is going to put up a great round. It’s up to me to go out there and have another really good round and finish off the tournament.”